Madison’s WKOW-DT 27 News reports Falk Cites Straw Poll As She Looks To AG Race:
Falk prevailed over Lautenschlager in a straw poll of nearly 100 attendees at the (Wisconsin) state democratic party convention. “That’s a place and a base where you would presume the Attorney General would do very well,” said Falk. “And I think the results are consistent with what I’ve been describing as what people are telling me.”
Labor’s Influence in Trouble in American Politics – Paul M. Weyrich provides some valuable insight on the internal struggles of the labor union movement, noting the declining influence of the AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education (COPE), which began in the late 1950s under the direction of Wisconsinite, Andrew Biemiller. Weyrich explains the battle to reelect 71 year-old President of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney.
In 2004 he doubled union dues so he could spend more on the Democratic Presidential and Congressional campaigns… But… the President was re-elected. Republicans increased their margin in the Senate by four seats and increased their margin in the House by three seats.
Sweeney’s opponents charge that he has spent too much time and money on non-productive politics and not enough on organizing…Currently five unions, consisting of 40% of the AFL-CIO membership, threaten to desert the AFL-CIO if Sweeney, as expected, is re-elected.”
But most important is Sweeney’s problem with the following wedge issue…
Approximately 144 pro-family organizations sent a letter to Sweeney asking him to reverse the AFL-CIO position on the Federal Marriage Amendment and the various state marriage amendments. In an unreported move, Sweeney formed a coalition with Gays and Lesbians and had the AFL-CIO Executive Committee approve a resolution against traditional marriage. Without coverage in homosexual publications the resolution might have been unnoticed.
The pro-family groups told Sweeney that they would do everything possible to see that rank and file union workers knew about this resolution before the AFL-CIO Annual Convention in Chicago in July. The AFL-CIO resolution concludes with a broad endorsement of homosexuals. It reads, “The AFL-CIO reiterates its long standing support for the full inclusion and equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the workplace and in society.”
Youthful voters on both sides have upcoming national conventions…
with the YDA meeting in San Francisco August 3 – 7 and the YRs in Las Vegas, July 6-7. Gavin Leonard, 24 year-old co-founder of CONTROL, a Cincinnati Copwatch and director of Elementz, a hip hop youth arts center thinks Democrats need to acknowledge The Political Power of the Midwest.
We need somebody to care more than just once every four years. There are more towns like Cincinnati, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Detroit than there are San Francisco’s and New York’s. As increasing amounts of financial and human resources flow to the coasts, the Midwest is falling further behind.
Midwestern progressives continue fleeing to the coasts, and foundation dollars grow scarcer in the heartland. The nearly non-existent non-profit job market here makes it extremely tough to develop leadership and skills in our communities and among our youth.
Nonetheless, teen spirit is alive and well as evidenced by Operation Yellow Elephant… “to recruit College Republicans and Young Republicans to serve as infantry. They demanded this war and now viciously support it. It’s only right that they also experience it.”
